I will probably never understand how one person can hold so much excitement about something so… not exciting. Such as meeting my family, for example. Especially when it's not even official.

Mira has been talking my ear off the whole way from the condo to my car about how excited she is to meet my mother and sister, how she thinks they're super cool and stuff. And in the car, her knees keep bouncing up and down like a rabbit hopping on energy drinks.

And it's driving me crazy. With annoyance.

“Can you seriously calm the hell down, Mira?” I groan in frustration.

Mira wriggles in her seat. “This is just, like, oh my god, so exciting, like, I'm seeing your mom and little sister! This is like, such a big deal.”

I snort as I stop at a red light behind a pink Jeep, probably another Mira barbie driving it.

“It isn't. Not when you're the one who insisted on tagging along. This isn't even an official meeting.”

“Yet you're the one who caved.” In my periphery, Mira grins at me.

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Just don't act like a hyper Energizer bunny when we get there, okay?”

“That's like, impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm cute, like a bunny.”

With a sigh, I put the gear shift into drive as the light turns green.

She's not wrong. She is cute like a bunny. Cute and hyper like one too, although she's still more like a kitten. But will I admit that out loud? Nope. Not for now.

After a few minutes of driving in silence –well, not actual silence since Mira is drumming her fingers against her bare legs that are barely covered by white jean shorts– she breaks it.

“Can we listen to some music?”

“No," I say.

“Aw, please?” Mira whines.

“We're not on a road trip, Mira.”

“But–”

“But I said no," I reply firmly.

Mira huffs. “Fine.” A few seconds pass before she reaches over and turns the radio on. An old school jam from the 2000s blares out. With an exasperated scoff, I turn it off.

“What the hell did I just say, Mira?” I ask, glaring at her as she smiles at me with amusement twinkling in her brown eyes like golden stars.

“You said no,” she answers, her voice sweet with innocence.

Exhaling sharply, I return my attention to the road when again, the stupid song blasts on. I press the power off button and Mira turns it on again. We go back and forth when I give up just before Mira turns it back on to another channel, 102.7 FM. And that fucking song.

“Say you can't sleep, baby, I know. That's that me, espresso,” Mira sings, grinning at me. “Come on, sing it.”

“No fucking way am I singing that.”

“Pretty please.”

“Nope,” I say firmly as Sabrina Carpenter's voice suffocates the interior of the car. Okay, I actually do like that song, but I've already heard it a thousand times and I'm pretty sick of it.

Turning right, I tap my fingers against the steering wheel in annoyance. But apparently, Mira thinks I'm vibing with the stupid song.

“You know you want to,” she says. “Besides, this song reminds me of you.”

I snort. “What?”

“Yeah. You're like espresso. Addictive, on people's mind , on my mind… day and night.”

I glance at Mira with an eyebrow raised in surprise. How in the world is she that smooth if she hasn't dated anyone. And she's actually smirking at me with that lopsided smile.

Ignoring her, I drive past house after house with their big, black gates and stone walls, until I reach my mom's. And mine too until I had moved out. It's smaller than the neighboring millionaire-dollar mansions, but still beautiful enough to blend in with the neighborhood.

Green shrubs with blooming flowers line up the driveway, ending at the two stone columns on either side of the brown, polished gate. My mom and Anna are both standing near the curb with light-brown suitcases out. Mira drums her fingers on her thighs even faster, barely able to contain her excitement.

Pulling up to the curb, I park the car and turn to Mira.

“Remember what I said,” I warn. “Behave, okay?”

“Okay!” she says with a grin. But she doesn't even waste a second hopping out. With a groan, I turn off the engine and climb out as she reaches Anna and Mom.

“You must be Nat’s mom! It's so nice to finally meet you!” Mira is saying as she hugs my mom, who gasps out in surprise with a raise of her eyebrows.

“Ah, nice to meet you too. You must be Mira,” Mom says with a warm smile.

Mira nods, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Yep! Oh, and you must be Anna, Nat’s little sister right?” She hugs Anna too, who shoots me a pointed glance over her head.

"Uh-huh, and you must be Mira Jung," Anna says, pulling back from the embrace.

"Oh, you know my full name?" Mira grins and looks at me. "So you have been talking about me?"

I clear my throat. "Sort of." I can't imagine how she would feel if she knew the truth about me and her family, how my own family knows her last name and the whole history. 

“Sorry, she's just very excited to meet you guys,” I continue as Mira bounds up to me and slings her arm around my waist. She lifts herself up and pecks me on the cheek, which further widens the stupid grins on my family's faces.

“Nonsense, she's such a cutesy!” Mom says.

Mira turns to me. “See, Nat? Nothing to worry about!”

Ha, nothing to worry about. Mira seems oblivious to the looks that Mom and Anna are sending my way. And I don't blame them. Because even though I've told them about Mira, I guess meeting the daughter of the woman who ruined me four years ago in person hits different.

“Mira, how about you and my mom go into the car and chat a little while I help Anna with the bags.”

“Oh, sounds like an awesome idea!” Mira squeals.

I shoot Mom another warning look as she quietly winks at me before following Mira into the car. With a sigh, I grab two of the suitcases in either hand, both weighing considerably heavy, and chuck them into the trunk.

I can hear my mom and Mira chatting in the seats ahead as Anna brings another luggage back into the back.

“She's definitely something, isn't she?” Anna whispers.

“She is, yeah. A lot.”

“When you said she's so enthusiastic, I didn't expect her to be like this.”

With a sigh, I throw in the last of the bags and press the button under the trunk door. It slowly closes, steadily beeping before clicking shut.

“Will you just say it?”

“Say what?”

“That you don't like her.”

Anna blinks at me. “What? No, I like her! Like, for real. She's so different from her mother, and good for you.”

I scoff. “That last part is too true.”

“You need someone like her, Nat. Bright, cute, and not to mention drop dead pretty. She'll cure your dark pit of a soul.”

“Jeez, fuck off Anna,” I grumble.

She chuckles. “I'm serious though. Don't mess it up.”

“Have you met me? All I do is mess everything up.”

“Then do something different this time. It's called changing and growing, sis.”

“Whatever. Let's go, or you'll be late.”

After getting stuck in traffic, arriving at the airport two hours later, and getting through crowds of people until the terminals with Mira's hand gripping mine, my mom and Anna say their goodbyes before it's my turn.

“I still don't understand why you have to go to the airport when I could have just driven you there,” I say.

Anna snorts. “It's an eight-hour drive. There's no way I'm driving the entire day when I can just get on a plane and be there in two hours or so. Besides, you know how terrified I am of the highways.”

“As if being up in the sky is any better.”

She shrugs. “If it's that easy, then it shouldn't be a problem for you to visit me when you need someone to tell you you're being stupid.”

When she says those words, the full realization that she's leaving hits me straight in the chest. Without replying, I hug her and tighten my arms around her, reluctant to let her go as she rubs my back.

“You know I'm just a phone call away, right? Literally because we can talk via video call.”

“I know. It just won't be the same,” I say, my voice muffled against her hair. With a sniffle, I pull back.

“Holy shit, is that a tear?” Anna says.

I shove her playfully in the shoulder. “Stop.” She stumbles back with a grin as I wipe the stupid tears from my cheek. “I'll miss you, little sis.”

She takes a deep breath. “I'll miss you too. Just don't mess up a good thing.” She nods toward Mira, who is scrolling through her phone a few feet away.

“I'll do my best,” I say.

And as Anna leaves, her back disappearing behind the walls, I sincerely mean those words. I'll do my best. No matter how hard it is.

A/N

Fun fact: Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter is the main inspiration behind this story, so it was fun to finally include it!

In other words, updates will be down to 2 chapters a month on Thursdays. Or they may be inconsistent and be every 10 -14 days, it depends as I'm working on a super-important project.